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OPINION

What Parkland's survivors can learn from Selma marchers

Jocelyn Benson
Published 7:00 a.m. ET March 5, 2018

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Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students walk to the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee, Fla. The students are in town to lobby the Florida Legislature to push for gun control laws after 17 people were killed last week by at their Parkland, Fla. school.(Photo: Hali Tauxe, Tallahassee Democrat via USA TODAY NETWORK)

A glimmer of hope emerged in the wake of the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida: young students across the country are rising up and speaking out to demand safer schools. If there is any doubt that the voices of these young adults can have a lasting impact, one only need look to another group of young people whose activism led to changes that had eluded them and their ancestors for decades.

Jocelyn Benson(Photo: John F Martin)

In March of 1965 young leaders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, led by now-Congressman John Lewis, faced down state troopers in Selma, Alabama to march and raise awareness about the ongoing violence and injustices stemming from segregation throughout the South. Those students forged coalitions with faith and other community leaders to demand that the federal government listen, respond, and ultimately protect and preserve their right to vote.

The students’ activism and leadership in Selma led to sweeping reforms and the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most powerful federal laws in our democracy’s history.

This famous photo is often identified as Martin Luther King Jr. leading the march from Selma to Montgomery, but it is actually from the student protests in Montgomery days before the march. Members of the SCLC, including King, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy and the Rev. Jesse Douglas, join SNCC executive director James Forman and John Lewis in a show of support for the students.(Photo: File photo)

Some 53 years later students are again at the forefront of a national movement, this time to protect their ability to go to school without fearing for their lives. Those young adults can find success if they connect their advocacy to expanding the civic engagement of young people throughout the country. It’s a simple reality evident since the inception of our democratic republic: Elected officials listen to citizens who exercise their right to vote.

Research shows that young adults will vote if they are asked to vote — and particularly if another young adult does the asking. If today’s young activists prioritize asking every eligible citizen who follows them on social media or joins them at rallies and town halls to register and vote, these young leaders can dramatically impact their generation’s voter turnout — and their influence — in the years to come.

They also should, in turn, advocate for policies that make it easier for young citizens to register to vote and get engaged. For example, a dozen states allow eligible citizens to “preregister” to vote when they turn 16. Pre-registration essentially ensures that a future voter is added to the rolls at the same time they get their drivers’ license — or during high school registration efforts — and then are able to vote as soon as they turn 18.

It is one of the most effective ways for our democracy to embrace young citizens and prepare them for a lifetime of civic engagement. At a time when civics education is on the decline and turnout is consistently low among voters under the age of 30, several studies have suggested that a simple policy of preregistration can increase turnout among our youth.

Just as their predecessors did successfully over 50 years ago, today’s young adults have an opportunity to expand their influence over our country’s laws and leaders by connecting their advocacy and activism to civic engagement — and advocating for policies that will improve their access to the ballot box. If they do so, our democracy — and our country — will be better for it.

Jocelyn Benson is the CEO of the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE) and the author of Secretaries of State: Guardians of the Democratic Process.